Month: May 2023

Leeds manager Sam Allardyce said the club’s players had not been good enough after Sunday’s 4-1 home defeat to Tottenham sealed Premier League relegation.

Allardyce had been Leeds’ last throw of the dice with four games remaining, but after three defeats and a draw the 68-year-old was unable to mask the club’s systemic failings and save them.

He said: “Most of it comes down to how good are your players? These players have tried very hard while I’ve been here and I can’t fault their effort.

“But as a squad, they haven’t been good enough by the fact that they’re in the bottom three in the Premier League.

“I would have hoped I could have got a little bit more out of them, so I take responsibility for that.

“But it’s a tough old world when things start failing and when they start failing and confidence starts going then it’s very difficult to claw it back and we’ve been unable to do that.”

Leeds’ three-year stay in the top flight is over and Allardyce made it clear poor player recruitment had been the biggest factor in their demise.

“General recruitment is the number one factor for any manager or any coach or any head coach or any club to be successful,” he said.

“Without top-level recruitment, a manager and a coach and the staff are only as good as the players they have available and their ability.

“Actual quality is all about recruitment because better players and more intelligent players make you a better coach, make everybody at the club better, make it a happy club going forward.”

Leeds’ ultra-slim hopes of avoiding the drop on the final day appeared dashed in the only the second minute against Tottenham when Harry Kane fired the visitors into an early lead.

The Elland Road faithful responded with raucous defiance and that quickly turned to anger as they vented their fury at the Leeds board.

Leeds wasted several first-half chances and were duly punished – as they have been all season – when Pedro Porro put Tottenham 2-0 up with a brilliant angled finish two minutes into the second half.

Jack Harrison reduced the deficit, only for Kane to curl home his 30th league goal of the season two minutes later.

Tottenham substitute Lucas Moura then compounded Leeds’ misery when he waltzed through to add a fourth in stoppage time.

Leeds fans chanted ‘sack the board’ and called on chairman Andrea Radrizzani to sell his majority stake in the club to American co-owners 49ers Enterprises.

The financial arm of NFL franchise the San Francisco 49ers holds a 44 per cent stake with a deal in place to buy the remaining shares before January 2024.

But that was contingent on Leeds being in the top flight and relegation has muddied the waters.

Allardyce urged the club to quickly resolve their ownership issue, but it remains to be seen who will be in control as they bid to bounce straight back from the Sky Bet Championship.

“I haven’t said I’m staying yet so there’s a lot of discussion that needs (to be had) both ways on what’s going to happen,” Allardyce added.

“Whether that’s me or whoever that might be if it’s not me. I’m not committing myself to say I am or not staying just yet.”

Hearts striker Lawrence Shankland and his Hibernian counterpart Kevin Nisbet have both been included in the Scotland squad for the next month’s Euro 2024 qualifiers against Norway and Georgia.

The Edinburgh-based pair take the places of Stoke’s Jacob Brown, who missed the end of the Championship season with a hamstring issue, and Southampton forward Che Adams, who recently suffered a recurrence of the ankle injury he sustained in Scotland’s win over Cyprus.

Shankland, who previously made four appearances in 2019 and 2020, was called back into the fold for the Spain game in March and he has kept his place at the end of a season in which he has scored 28 goals for Hearts.

Nisbet, who won all of his 10 caps in 2021, is recalled for the first time since damaging his anterior cruciate ligament in February 2022. The 26-year-old has scored 12 goals for Hibs since returning to action in December.

Rangers defender John Souttar is recalled after missing much of the season through injury. The 26-year-old, who has not played for the national team since last summer’s Nations League defeat in Ireland, takes the place of Norwich City centre-back Grant Hanley, who has been sidelined with an Achilles problem since early April.

Blackburn centre-back Dom Hyam has retained his place after earning a late call-up for the last camp in March, while Steve Clarke has opted for consistency in the goalkeeping department with Angus Gunn, Zander Clark and Liam Kelly again called up in the absence of Craig Gordon, who remains sidelined as he tries to fight back from a double leg-break sustained on Christmas Eve.

Scotland, who are top of Group A with two wins from their two games so far, face Norway in Oslo on Saturday, June 17 before welcoming Georgia to Hampden three days later.

Chelsea have confirmed former Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino as their next manager.

Pochettino, 51, will take over at Stamford Bridge this summer after agreeing to become the third permanent manager of co-owner Todd Boehly’s reign.

Co-sporting directors Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley said in a joint statement: “Mauricio’s experience, standards of excellence, leadership qualities and character will serve Chelsea well as we move forward. 

“He is a winning coach, who has worked at the highest levels, in multiple leagues and languages. 

“His ethos, tactical approach and commitment to development all made him the exceptional candidate.”

The Blues finished the season with Frank Lampard in the hotseat on a caretaker basis following Graham Potter’s dismissal.

Pochettino has been out of work since leaving Paris Saint-Germain last July and emerged as a frontrunner for the role after Julian Nagelsmann pulled out of the race.

He was a popular figure at Spurs after a five-year reign in North London between 2014 and 2019.

Having been previously rumoured for a return to Tottenham, the Argentine will now take the helm at their London rivals.

American businessman Boehly will hope Chelsea can enjoy a much more successful 2023-24 campaign under Pochettino, with the Blues finishing a disappointing 12th in the Premier League.

The Stamford Bridge club confirmed that Jesus Perez, Miguel d’Agostino, Toni Jimenez will join Poch’s backroom staff alongside his son Sebastiano.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated as more details become available. Please keep refreshing the page.

Mauricio Pochettino has been appointed Chelsea manager on a two-year deal.

The former Tottenham coach, who has been out of work since leaving Paris St Germain last year, will take over from interim boss Frank Lampard – who oversaw his final game in charge against Newcastle in the Premier League on Sunday.

It brings to an end an almost two-month process to find a permanent successor to Graham Potter, who was sacked on April 2.

The PA news agency understands Pochettino had been the club’s first choice from early in the search, which was led by co-sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart.

He was the only candidate the club got into serious talks with, despite conversations that took place with former Bayern Munich boss Julian Nagelsmann, ex-Spain coach Luis Enrique and Burnley’s Vincent Kompany.

It is understood that, contrary to reports that Pochettino had sought reassurances about the running of the club behind the scenes, he has been satisfied from early in the process that he could work within Chelsea’s sporting structure.

Stewart and Winstanley said in a statement: “Mauricio’s experience, standards of excellence, leadership qualities and character will serve Chelsea Football Club well as we move forward.

“He is a winning coach, who has worked at the highest levels, in multiple leagues and languages. His ethos, tactical approach and commitment to development all made him the exceptional candidate.”

The new manager, whose contract includes an option for a third season, will work closely with the co-sporting directors as the club look to rebuild after their worst season in 30 years.

Since Potter was removed and Lampard handed the reigns, Chelsea have lost eight of their 11 games, winning only once.

They were knocked out of the Champions League by Real Madrid at the quarter-final stage, and a 12th-place finish – their lowest since 1996 – means they will not play in Europe next season.

Lampard said on Sunday that working with a bloated squad of 34 first-team players was the most challenging thing he faced at Stamford Bridge.

One of Pochettino’s first tasks will be deciding who of that number are part of his plans and who can leave, with the club under pressure to sell players in order to satisfy Financial Fair Play rules after spending around £600million on transfers in the last 12 months.

Mauricio Pochettino has been appointed as the new permanent Chelsea boss.

The Blues have turned to the former Tottenham manager at the end of a  turbulent campaign which saw them finish 12th in the Premier League.

Here, we examine Pochettino’s managerial record.

Espanyol (32.9% win rate)

Having finished his playing career with the Catalan club, Pochettino was pressed into service to lead a struggling team in January 2009 and lifted them from the relegation zone to a mid-table finish – drawing with local rivals Barcelona in the Copa del Rey and beating them in LaLiga.

Espanyol finished 11th, eighth and 14th in his three full seasons in charge, though the former Argentina defender left with them bottom of the table in November 2012 after a poor run of form and a dispute over financial restrictions.

Southampton (38.3% win rate)

Taking over mid-season from the popular Nigel Adkins, Pochettino led Saints to a 14th-placed finish in 2012-13 and an impressive eighth the following campaign.

Conducting press conferences via an interpreter throughout his spell on the south coast, Pochettino was nevertheless clearly able to get his message across to an over-achieving squad and position himself for higher-profile roles to come.

Tottenham (54.3% win rate)

Pochettino’s five-year reign at Tottenham marked the most prolonged period of success and stability in their recent history, with the club finishing fifth, third, second, third and fourth and reaching finals of the Champions League and the League Cup.

The Argentinian nurtured a Spurs squad that was the youngest in the Premier League when they ended as runners-up in 2016-17, containing a mix of domestic talents such as Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Eric Dier, and overseas players including Christian Eriksen, Son Heung-min and Toby Alderweireld.

A club that had had 10 coaches in 12 years before Pochettino’s arrival in 2014 have cycled through Jose Mourinho, interim boss Ryan Mason (twice), Nuno Espirito Santo, Antonio Conte and caretaker Cristian Stellini in short order since his departure in November 2019.

Paris Saint-Germain (65.5% win rate)

Won 55, drew 15, lost 14; 

The French giants, where Pochettino spent time as a player, brought him the first major trophies of his managerial career by winning the Coupe de France in 2020-21 and Ligue 1 in 2021-22.

However, his tenure was not deemed successful as a runners-up finish to Lille in 2020-21 meant PSG missed out on the Ligue 1 title for only the second time in nine seasons, and he failed to guide the capital club to the Champions League final.

Pochettino was sacked last summer having won less than 66 per cent of matches in all competitions, whereas his predecessor Thomas Tuchel – who started this season as Chelsea boss – had a 75 per cent win rate across his two-and-a-half years in charge.

Mauricio Pochettino has his work cut out for him as Chelsea’s new head coach. 

Pochettino takes over a side that finished in the bottom half of the Premier League for the first time since 1996.

The former Tottenham manager, last in work at Paris Saint-Germain, will be tasked with rebuilding the Blues and restoring them to their former heights.

We take a look at his immediate priorities in the job.

Manage upwards

Chelsea co-owner Todd Boehly’s hands-on style means Pochettino must form a positive relationship with the American to stand a chance of success.

Poch, 51, shared a strong bond with Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy during his time in North London and a similar charm offensive is necessary here as he attempts to calm what has been a chaotic first year under the club’s new owners.

While a new signing or two will be expected, part of the Argentinian’s role might be to dissuade his superior from dipping into the transfer market too often.

Having been stung by dressing room politics at PSG, rumoured interest in Neymar, for example, is unlikely to sit too well with the new head coach.

Build a core

At Tottenham, Pochettino moulded a group of players — Jan Vertonghen, Eric Dier, Christian Eriksen, Dele Alli and Harry Kane — into a core that was clearly distinguishable as his team.

There is no such spine to this Chelsea side, so his first job must be to wade through the long list of names available to him and decide who he feels can form part of his new-look outfit.

That process is likely to favour young players. Reece James, Wesley Fofana, Benoit Badiashile, Levi Colwill, Trevoh Chalobah and Ben Chilwell form the basis of a strong defensive unit, while Enzo Fernandez is the future of the Blues’ midfield.

Poch’s squad is far too bloated in forward areas but nailing down the players he wants to keep and those he does not is the only way this is going to work.

Trim the squad

To give his new appointment the best possible chance, Boehly will likely need to swallow his pride on some of the expensive signings he has made over the past 12 months.

It is possible, for example, that not Raheem Sterling, Mykhailo Mudryk and Noni Madueke are not all going to play a vital role for Pochettino, while Marc Cucurella and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang look destined to fall short of the mark.

Chelsea are unlikely to receive many sizeable transfer fees this summer but will need to focus on shipping players out of the door as quickly as possible so as not to burden their new boss with the same issues as Graham Potter faced earlier this season.

Potter’s squad was so oversized that he reportedly had to ask players to change into their training kit in the corridor and sit on the floor during team meetings.

Intense pre-season

Pochettino was famed for his brutal double training sessions at Spurs and will surely inflict more of the same on his new charges this summer.

Setting aside the size of their squad, the Blues suffered far too many injuries to gain consistency during a trophyless season in which they finished a lowly 12th.

Fitness and intensity is at the heart of everything Poch’s teams do best, so tuning up his star players so they are ready to contribute effectively next term will be vital.

Mauricio Pochettino’s appointment at Chelsea on a two-year contract continues the strong managerial connection between the Blues and Tottenham.

The Argentinian becomes the fifth man to manage both clubs in the Premier League era and we took a look at the records of his predecessors.

Glenn Hoddle

Long-time Spurs midfielder Glenn Hoddle finished his career as Chelsea player-manager for two seasons before a third solely in the dugout. 

His sides never finished higher than 11th in the league but reached an FA Cup final, losing 4-0 to Manchester United, and semi-final as well as a Cup Winners’ Cup semi-final.

After spells with England and Southampton, he took charge at White Hart Lane with similar results to his Chelsea spell – Spurs reached a League Cup final, losing to Blackburn, but finished ninth and 10th in the league before he was sacked six games into the next season.

Andre Villas-Boas

After their success with Jose Mourinho, Chelsea once again turned to Porto to recruit Andre Villas-Boas, who had worked as part of Mourinho’s staff. He was unable to work similar magic as manager, lasting just 40 games and less than a season in the role.

He lasted twice as long at Spurs but narrowly missed out on Champions League qualification in his first season and was dismissed with the club lying seventh shortly before Christmas in his second, having failed to make the most of the then-world record fee received for Gareth Bale’s move to Real Madrid and lost 6-0 to Manchester City and 5-0 to Liverpool in his last five league games in charge.

Jose Mourinho

Announcing himself as a “Special One”, Jose Mourinho lived up to that billing in his first spell at Stamford Bridge with back-to-back league titles, an FA Cup and two League Cups. 

His unbeaten home record in the league lasted 77 games in all and into his second spell, when he won the Premier League and League Cup for a third time each.

After another League Cup and a Europa League with Manchester United, Spurs banked on Mourinho as Pochettino’s replacement to end a trophy drought amounting to a solitary League Cup since 1991. 

With Spurs finishing sixth and then seventh in the league, though, Mourinho was sacked just days before his chance to bring silverware in the 2021 League Cup final – which Manchester City won 1-0 against a team led by caretaker manager Ryan Mason.

Antonio Conte

Antonio Conte brought a Premier League title and an FA Cup to Chelsea, but was sacked after they finished only fifth in the league in his second season.

His volatile style never meshed easily with Tottenham and his exit in March, railing at “selfish players” and Tottenham’s “story” of failing to win trophies, has left them still searching for a permanent successor, Mason again at the helm after Conte’s assistant Cristian Stellini was remarkably sacked as interim manager.

Mauricio Pochettino

Unlike the other names on this list, Pochettino moves to Chelsea having first managed Tottenham rather than the other way round.

He took Spurs to the 2019 Champions League final, where they lost to Liverpool, and his return was widely craved by sections of their fanbase – any notable success at Chelsea will therefore be all the more painful for their London rivals.

Brentford boss Thomas Frank values goalkeeper David Raya at £40million.

Tottenham and Manchester United have been heavily linked with Spaniard Raya, who has a year left on his Bees contract having turned down a new one.

The 27-year-old kept his 12th clean sheet of the season in the 1-0 win against Manchester City on Sunday but Frank admits his future probably lies elsewhere.

Frank said: “I think we only have one player for sale. That’s the one that’s been talked about a lot, David. He costs £40m, I think I said.”

Frank himself is on the radar of bigger clubs having guided Brentford to a ninth-placed finish in their second season in the Premier League.

Other players, such as full-backs Rico Henry and Aaron Hickey, will also attract interest this summer.

But Frank added: “We are a selling club. I don’t think that’s a secret. But they need to be crazy high amounts for the players for anyone to leave.

“I’m pretty sure that everyone, including myself, is very happy here at Brentford.”

Ethan Pinnock’s 85th-minute goal saw the Bees became the only club to do the double over City this season.

The champions have bigger fish to fry, however, as they chase an historic treble with the FA Cup final against Manchester United to come next weekend, followed by the Champions League showpiece with Inter Milan on June 10.

Pep Guardiola left the likes of Erling Haaland, John Stones and Ilkay Gundogan on the bench and used the occasion to give 19-year-old Shea Charles his debut as a substitute.

The City boss said: “Shea Charles, against this team with top, top strikers, fast and strong, it’s not the easiest debut.

“At the same time we didn’t play for points. We know him, he trains quite regularly with us. He’s so good, so composed.

“When you can make your debut, after joining the club aged nine, is the biggest compliment for all the managers he had and the trainers and those that take care of him. I’m pretty sure it was a big moment for him.”

Mikel Arteta has challenged Arsenal to improve and show they are the real deal again next season.

The Gunners ended a campaign of obvious progress with a 5-0 thrashing of Wolves on the final day, which meant they finished only five points behind champions Manchester City.

Arsenal had been top of the Premier League for 248 days before a run of two wins in eight fixtures during the closing weeks of the season saw their title quest end on the penultimate weekend.

Finishing as runners-up behind City means Champions League football will return to the Emirates for the first time since 2017 and, while Arteta was delighted to achieve their initial goal this season, he is well aware of the work required to kick on this summer.

He said: “We wanted to bring the club back to the Champions League, that was the main target.

“That was obviously a big demand in the summer before we did certain things and before we managed to keep some of our players.

“Then the journey started and day by day, you start to have a feeling that the team is moving in the right direction and the energy and spirit is really good. Then you start to generate some belief.

“We didn’t expect to finish where we are. I think it’s the third best record in the club, with the history of the club, the most wins ever.

“It’s a lot but it’s still not enough to win it. We understand where the level is. If we want to be the real deal, we can’t be happy with what we have, and we have to be next season much better.

“I think we have some great foundations, that is true but in sport you have to prove it again.

“You have to be back in the first day of pre-season and look at each other and I don’t want to see any complacency.

“We are going to have to be much better. It will be a challenging season but a season with plenty of opportunities and one of those opportunities is to be consistent, to do it again and be better. This is what we have to demand from each other.”

Gabriel Jesus was on target against Wolves with Bukayo Saka, Jakub Kiwior and Granit Xhaka also scoring, the latter netting twice in what is expected to be his final appearance for Arsenal.

Jesus’ second-half header ensured he finished his debut campaign for the Gunners with 11 goals and he is excited about the direction the club are heading.

He told the official club website: “It was good. Unfortunately, we didn’t win a trophy which was our target, but I think we had a good season, very good.

“We are building a good atmosphere from inside and outside, the fans coming with us always supporting, pushing us.

“I am so excited. I was a little bit unlucky about my injury, I missed a big part of the season but my mentality has always been my fitness and then to help my team, so next my main target is to be fit all season and help my team.”

The 1,084 goals scored in this season’s Premier League were a record for a 20-team season.

Abdoulaye Doucoure’s crucial goal for Everton against Bournemouth on Sunday, which clinched the Toffees’ survival, also meant the league surpassed the previous high of 1,072 in 2018-19.

Here, the PA news agency looks at how it happened.

Erling Haaland has rewritten the individual record books and his exploits for Manchester City have now helped create a new league record as well.

The Norwegian’s 36 goals led the way, with Harry Kane a distant second in the Golden Boot race despite scoring 30 for Tottenham.

Ivan Toney netted 20 for Brentford before starting his eight-month betting suspension, with Mohamed Salah (19) and Callum Wilson (18) completing the top five.

Champions City were the league’s top scorers with 94 goals while long-time leaders Arsenal racked up 88.

Liverpool and Brighton cracked 70, as did Tottenham who scored and conceded more than 60 – their 2007-08 season was the only previous instance of a team doing so in the Premier League.

Every team contributed at least 30 to the tally, the first time that has happened since the 2012-13 campaign.

City were again champions in the previous record season and contributed 95 themselves, a similar impact to this season.

The tally could have been even higher but for Ederson and his defence, with City conceding only 23 to finish with a goal difference of plus-72 – that ranks third in Premier League history, with City and Chelsea the only clubs ever to top 70.

Liverpool, who finished just a point behind City in the title race, scored 89 while Arsenal contributed 73. Three more teams topped 60 and a further six reached a half-century while only Huddersfield (22) came in under 30.

There was no Haaland equivalent driving the total but a host of players contributed at a high level – Liverpool pair Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane and Arsenal striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang all shared the Golden Boot on 22, with Sergio Aguero just one behind for City, while a record 32 players reached double figures.

Last season came up just one short of the previous record as seven teams broke the 60-goal barrier, with City and Liverpool on 99 and 94 respectively.

There were 1,066 in 2011-12, 1,064 in 2016-17 and only one fewer in 2010-11 and 2012-13.

Surprisingly 2017-18, when City scored 106 goals and Salah and Kane both hit the magical 30 mark individually, had only 1,018 goals in total as Huddersfield stayed up with 28, the same total as relegated Swansea, and Burnley finished seventh with only 36.

Indeed, none of the four seasons in which a team has hit a century figures particularly highly in the chart. City scored 102 of the league’s 1,034 in 2019-20 and Chelsea 103 of 1,053 in 2009-10. Even 2013-14, when City scored 102 and Liverpool 101, only saw 1,052 goals in total.

The league’s early 42-game seasons unsurprisingly featured higher overall tallies, with 1,222 in the inaugural 1992-93 campaign followed by back-to-back seasons with 1,195, but the average of 2.85 per game this term is the outright highest in the Premier League era.